Tried-and-True Cobbler

Posted June 27, 2012 by Jenny

I knew it was a good sign when my mother-in-law, Emily, started rattling off the ingredients for her go-to berry cobbler over the phone, then interrupted herself to say, This index card is so stained and old, who knows where on earth I got it from? Those of you who have read my book know about Emily’s Index Card Cache (a.k.a The Recipe Starter Kit) we inherited from her a few months after we were married. And those of you who have made her Meatloaf know that those index cards rarely disappoint. This cobbler — a flexible, non-fussy, absolutely-screams-summer kind of dessert — follows suit. My favorite thing about the recipe (besides the crunchy crumbling topping that somehow weaves all the way into the filling) is that it doesn’t involve getting butter to the right temperature, then smushing it into the sugar and flour, which I always find to be a somewhat perilous (and messy) proposition. You simply drizzle the melted butter on top at the end, which means the whole thing comes together fast and with minimal fuss.

My other favorite thing about it? The original recipe called for that butter to be margarine.

Summer CobblerI assembled this particular cobbler (made with peaches and blueberries) in about 10 minutes, shoved it into the oven, drove across town for a playdate pick-up, and was back in time to pull out the bubbly goodness just about a half hour later.

Place fruit in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle on lemon juice and toss. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add egg, tossing with fork until mixture is crumbly. (It should not be mushy.) Sprinkle flour-egg mixture over fruit then drizzle as evenly as possible with melted butter.

34 Comments

That looks delicious. This makes me think of my mother-in-laws huge box of index card recipes. She died this past september and I have an overwhelming urge to drive over to her house and sequester them. My grandmother came to stay with me when my youngest baby was born (almost seven years ago!) and she hand wrote on a scrap of paper her recipe for scratch biscuits. I love it so much I laminated it.

I have peaches AND blueberries (loving the summer fruit) and this looks like a perfect way to use them. Since it’s a recipe your mother-in-law uses so often (as demonstrated by her description of the index card) I know it will taste as good as it looks in your picture.

Wait, if one pint of blueberries is about 2 cups, how is it that the total amount of fruit is 3 cups if you used 1.5 pints blueberries plus eight peaches? I’m guessing you meant 6 cups of fruit total? Thank you!

I just made it. And I found three cups of fruit to be more than enough for the 13×9 pan. I wound up only using peaches (because I had a TON of them) and used nine (well, maybe about 8 1/2 because I ate a few slices on the way).

Yum!! We’ve been having family dinner at my mom’s every Monday lately (mom, my stepdad, and all 6 of us siblings and step-siblings plus spouses and kids!) and each of us kids is responsible for taking a turn bringing dessert each week. I’m so making this next time!!

Man, this was fantastic. I was skeptical since it seemed too simple (no sugar on the fruit?). Next time (which may well be tonight, with peaches) I’ll skip the sifting and reduce the flour by 2T and see how that works – sifting is kind of a page-turner for me!

Angela – I can’t believe I didn’t edit out the sifting. It’s a total page-turner for me, and as I mentioned in the book, it was a life-changing moment when I read an article by Shirley Corriher saying that whisking flour was just as effective as sifting. So by all means skip the sifting! I just tweaked the recipe to reflect this. Thanks!!

Made this for guests on a low key barbeque Saturday night and was a rave hit. SO easy and perfect to pop in when the burgers and hot dogs went on the grill. It was ready and delicious with vanilla ice cream when we had finished eating.

So it’s officially confirmed — sifting is for suckas!! I made it again last night, no sifting, and it was just as good. I did reduce the flour by 2T but I doubt that’s even necessary. And I didn’t offer the leftovers to our storm refugee/house guest for breakfast this morning becasue I am a bad person and want to eat it myself.

Piling on to say I made this for a party last night, and the kids were literally picking the last crumbs out of the pan with their fingers, after the adults had already snuck seconds. I too was a bit skeptical, tempted to do stuff like throw in some cornstarch and sugar with the fruit, but I’m so glad I followed the recipe to the letter.

Made this with a bunch of frozen blackberries from last year’s harvest (thawed slightly in the microwave first) and it came out GREAT. I think my pan was a tiny bit large, because the fruit and topping were a bit thin, but that’s easily remedied. I too was skeptical (an egg? drizzle the butter? no cornstarch?) but it turned out wonderfully and it was so easy. I can’t wait to try it with other fruit combinations!

Incredible! Just made this in a tart pan for a cookout later, but it also made enough filling and topping to fill a ramekin. My daughter and I just gobbled it up. This is going to be tough to share later.

Just made this recipe tonight and it was awesome! Thanks so much!!! And I love your book. Your cooking style is just perfect; can’t wait to make even more recipes from this website and your book thank you again!

This looks/sounds divine! I made a similar crisp this morning for our weekend trip. I used 3 peaches, a bag of frozen blueberries, 2 cups of rhubarb, and two apples because that’s what I had at hand. I hope it’s good!!

I have been searching for a great cobbler recipe for years – it’s my day’s favorite dessert – and they never seem to come out quite right. Some are too gooey, some are too doughy… This one turned out just right! Thank you so much for posting! I will be making this recipe again

This is great for using up that fruit that’s a little past its prime. I made this up today using a bag of apples that had been lost in the back of the fridge. So wonderfully easy and delicious. I added 1/2 a cup of wheat germ to the topping to give a nuttier taste. This will be a regular in our house